If your child is unwell or not coming to school for any reason, you need to call or email the school by 9:00am. If we do not hear from you, we may come and do a home visit to check your child is safe. 

Missing a few days of school here and there may not seem a big deal, but research shows that it can have a significant impact on children's learning.

Children who miss a substantial amount of school fall behind their peers, and struggle to catch up.

Most of the work they miss is never made up, which can lead to big gaps in their learning.

Poor attendance often starts at primary school, and children who fall into this pattern are likely to underachieve at secondary school. Pupils who miss between 10 and 20% of school (that’s 19 to 38 days per year) perform less well in their Year 6 SATs and then stand only a 35% chance of achieving five or more good GCSEs when they move to secondary school, compared to 73% of those who miss fewer than 5% of school days.

Friendships can be affected by persistent absence, too: it can be hard for a child who misses lots of school to form relationships with their classmates.

Both the school and parents have a legal duty with regards to student attendance so we need to work together.  Communication between the school and parents is vital. Student absence from school for any reason (illness, appointments, leave for exceptional circumstances) will cause your child to miss lessons and it will affect your child’s education so we encourage open and honest communication between parents and the school. Poor attendance and punctuality will be monitored, and we will seek advice and support from our Attendance Officer where necessary. We will liaise with parents/carers and pupils in an effort to support and hopefully improve a child’s attendance. However, in some cases, when all else fails, the school may resort to fixed penalty fines or even prosecution. Under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996, ‘The parent/guardian is responsible for ensuring their child receives a full time education.’

At Springhill, we set a target of 97% or higher attendance for every child.
If attendance is 90% or below, this is classified as 'persistent absence' and the school and parents need to work together to improve this.
An attendance rate of 50% or below is classified as 'severe absence'.

Is my child well enough to attend school?

If your child is unwell, it is essential that you telephone or email the school office (02380333954/info@springhillcatholic.net) to report your child's absence and the reason why for every day that your child is off school.

During the winter, with illnesses circulating at high levels, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) advice remains clear that children can continue to attend school as normal unless they are unwell and have a high temperature.  There is no requirement to be absent from school on a precautionary basis and all schools must continue to maintain high expectations for face to face attendance.  

 It can be difficult to decide if your child is well enough to attend school so we suggest the following:

• A child should not attend if he/she has a fever/temperature and is feeling unwell enough that he/she cannot perform his/her normal daily activities.
• If a child has vomited or suffered diarrhea, it is important that they do not return to school until 48 hours after the last episode of sickness/diarrhea.

To help you decide whether your child is well enough for school, please use the link for further advice provided by the NHS:

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/